1946–1950: (The Radicalization of the Gold Coast — Cocoa Farmers Resenting the Marketing Board, the Destruction of 2.5 Million Trees for Swollen Shoot Diseas…

1946–1950: (The Radicalization of the Gold Coast — Cocoa Farmers Resenting the Marketing Board, the Destruction of 2.5 Million Trees for Swollen Shoot Disease Seen as Colonial Brutality, Postwar Shortages and Unemployment Politicizing an Alliance of School-Leavers and Returning Ex-Servicemen, the 1948 Boycott of European Companies, and Riots Forcing the British to Reconsider): In the Gold Coast — supposedly a model colony — nationalist leaders sought to tap into growing popular unrest in both towns and countryside, as the territory had become radicalized over time. Cocoa farmers resented the West African Produce Marketing Board controlling the price paid for their produce, and when in 1946–1947 authorities ordered the destruction of some 2.5 million trees following an outbreak of swollen shoot disease, it was seen as further evidence of an insensitive system determined to intervene brutally at the local level. In the towns, a postwar depression saw shortages of imported goods, high prices, and restrictions that favored Europeans, while prices rose faster than wages and unemployment politicized an unlikely alliance of young school-leavers and returning ex-servicemen resentful that there were few rewards for their wartime loyalty. A popular boycott of European companies in 1948 forced the latter to lower prices, and ex-servicemen marched on government buildings while riots erupted and the offices of European commercial concerns were attacked. Though the disturbances were relatively small-scale compared to other territories, the British were sufficiently taken aback to reconsider their dealings with nationalist politicians — the model colony was proving that no amount of colonial management could contain the aspirations of a people who had learned exactly what they were worth.